Z-score
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Related to Z-score: T-score, Altman Z-Score
Z-Score
In statistics, a quantification of the distance of a datapoint from the average of a set of datapoints. A z-score of zero indicates that that the data point is equal to the mean or average. It is often used to measure a person's or company's likelihood of bankruptcy.
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Z-score
a composite score, summarizing the weighted results of a number of ACCOUNTING RATIOS, that claims to predict a company's likelihood of failure. Z-scores were developed by distinguishing the values of various performance-and-liquidity ratios for companies which had gone bankrupt and for those which had prospered. Those accounting ratios which proved t o discriminate effectively between failed companies and successful ones were incorporated in a standard formula to calculate an aggregate Z-score. Analysts can calculate Z-scores for particular companies, and use the results to try to predict whether companies are likely to fail.Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson